Amongst the most important oil and gas projects this year in the Middle East has been the expansion of Oman's gas pipelines system. Sohar, a port town in the north of the country, is the focus of much activity, which is ultimately aimed at attracting industrial investment to the Sultanate.

Two main pipelines are under construction; the first, a 32inch, 300km-long pipeline will transport treated gas from Fahud to Sohar industrial areas, located near Sohar Port, which is currently being developed. The other will be in operation between Saih Rawl and Salalah, in the south.

Gas will be planned to be used in several large-scale industrial projects, such as an aluminium smelter, methanol fertilisers, Sohar refinery, and other future projects, according to Dr Mohammed bin Hamad bin Saif Al Romhi, Oman's minister of oil and gas.

Studies are currently being undertaken to build a 200-km-long mixed feedstock pipeline from Mina al-Fahal, near Muscat, to Sohar by the Sohar Refinery Company (SRC). The $200 million project is intended to supply the refinery planned at Sohar. The pipeline will transport a mixture of crude oil for refining and long residues for cracking into ethylene

Al Romhi said that the project would be completed by 2004.

"This new refinery has a design capacity of 116,000bpd and will be located in Sohar. BP has been selected as the export product 'off taker'," he said.

The expansion of the Central Oman gas facilities were initiated in order to meet increasing gas demand in the Sultanate for the Sohar and Sur industrial projects.

A new 20 million cu m per day gas processing plant at Saih Nihayda, comprising a midway booster compression station at Block Valve station 5, will also be built, along the 48" pipeline to Sur.

Tenders for the pipeline are scheduled to be issued in the fourth quarter of this year and the contract is expected to be awarded by the second quarter of next year.

At the end of 2000, the Ministry of Oil and Gas approved the start of the Front-End Design (FED) work for the Central Oman Expansion Project Phase-1 project.

Following conceptual studies, the FED work started in June 2001 and was carried out by Snamprogetti of Italy along with a dedicated PDO (Petroleum Development Oman) project team. The FED for facilities and pipelines was completed last November.

The final investment decision was achieved last December and the engineering, procurement and construction technical tender was issued last December 24 with February 18, this year as the due date for submission of the bid.

So far, conceptual studies and FED work has been completed for gas export pipeline of 48inch with midway booster compression."

Meanwhile, up to seven local contractors submitted technical bids late last month for the construction of the Harweel cluster pipeline project.

The venture sees the installation of 67 km of 12-inch-diameter pipeline and 33 km of eight-inch-diameter pipeline to transport gas and condensate from the Harweel fields into the network of PDO.

A tender is due out early next year for the main facilities and gas booster compression station packages. PDO hopes to start initial oil production from three fields by the first quarter of 2004, at a rate of 12,000 bpd.

The Harweel cluster, located 80 kilometres southwest of Marmul, is a group of seven fields consisting of Harweel, Sarmad, Ghafeer, Zalzala, Sakhiya, Rahab and Dafaq. The area produces a mixture of light oil and sour gas from high-pressure reservoirs at a depth of three to five kilometres. Recoverable reserves from all seven fields are estimated at 2,000 million barrels of oil.

According to reports, the bidders for the contract include Al-Hassan Engineering Company, Oman Construction Company (TOCO), Galfar Engineering and Contracting, Special Technical Services, GPS and Oman Steel Fabricators and Mechanical Company. India's Dodsal, did not bid, despite being prequalified for the work.